So-called barrier-free shower enclosures have, at their entrance, no raised portion or lip. The advantage and purpose of such a configuration is to enable a person in a wheelchair to enter or be easily wheeled into the enclosure. The disadvantage of a such a configuration is that no barrier exists to prevent water from running out over the base at the entrance and onto the floor adjoining the enclosure. Barrier-free showers are in common use in nursing homes, hospitals, and other care facilities. Barrier-free showers allow a wheelchair to be positioned within the shower, so that the occupant can bathe.
Barrier-free showers are in increasing use. As the population ages, more and more people will become confined to wheelchairs. The demand for, and use of, barrier-free showers is rising.
As the "barrier free" designation suggests, at least one side or wall of the shower has a large opening to allow ingress and egress of a wheelchair. The floor adjoining the opening at the threshold is relatively flat, with no obstructions, to allow movement of a wheel chair over the threshold and into the shower.
Because there is no barrier on the entry side of the shower, there is nothing to prevent water from running out of the shower and onto the floor area which is in proximity to the shower. Water on the floor is a major safety and housekeeping problem which is experienced with all barrier-free showers, and in all facilities which use barrier-free showers.
The intermittent attachment of weights to the bottom of a curtain of flexible material, whether that curtain be of decorative or utilitarian function, is known to keep the curtain extended from its top portion, which is attached to a curtain or shower rod, or similar support, toward the floor or the bottom of a tub or the base portion of a shower enclosure. Early weighting devices were coins or similarly formed segments of metal sewn into the hem of a drapery. Shower curtains were also weighted with discrete metal segments, sometimes magnetized, sealed into the lower of the curtain for adherence to a metal tub. U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,326 to Tarlow et. al. discloses one such weighted shower curtain.
These prior art devices were not designed for barrier free shower designs. While intermittent or interval weighting systems have been used, they do not adequately keep the curtain in place when used with a barrier free showers. The curtain will billow between weights, allowing the water striking the curtain to channel within the billows, and run out on the floor.
Traditional shower bases have a centrally located drain hole, usually with the base, on all surfaces, angled downwardly towards the drain. When there is a front barrier in the form of either a shower curtain, or a rigid sliding shower door, water exiting the shower head, or splashed within the enclosure runs down the walls of the enclosure, and down the curtain or door. The water is thereby channeled toward the drain located in the base or floor of the enclosure. With a barrier-free configuration, this structure works on three of the four sides, but not on the fourth side, which is the entrance side of the barrier free enclosure.